NAVARATRI RECIPES - COOKING FOR GUESTS- 9 COMBOS FOR 9 DAYS

Navaratri 2014 is starting from September 25 and for those keep Golu will be super busy inviting people for home everyday evening. Actually in my hubby's house we don't have the practise of keeping golu, but my mom keeps an elaborate golu. We love to help out our mom in keeping the Golu and make the park. Those are very nice and wonderful memories. We generally go to each other's house and get sundal ,which is generally folded and given in a newspaper. Nobody will give any fancy return gifts and if any elders come they will be given Blouse bits along with the manjal kumkumam. But now a days Navaratri is a huge festival.  Especially  people living in abroad, they make it as a big get together by calling each set of friends on a particular day and almost a mini dinner is served there. I have few of my close friends who do run out of ideas as what to make for their guests on navaratri evenings. I generally call my friends for Varalakshmi Pooja for which i serve a mini dinner too.
  To lessen the job of planning the menu for the guests i have complied 9 combos of recipes from Jeyashri's kitchen and given here. All recipes are no onion no garlic recipes. I wish this will be useful for those plan for a snack menu for Navaratri for their guests.
  You can add or omit any items from the combo and make it either simple or elaborate. Any other request for navaratri, please leave a comment. Few interesting recipes for navaratri sundal and payasam recipes  are coming up soon.
   The above golu pictures are contributed by my friends. The left one with coffee brown background is Aarti's Golu. Aarti is a very artistic person and she does bead jewelry too and she has a facebook page for her Shreyathi creations. If you remember my Butter Murukku  post, the cute jute bag is made by her only.
   The picture on the right is Akila's Golu . She got introduced to me very recently and while talking she casually told that she keeps a big golu. When i asked her the pictures she sent this divine temple Golu picture to me.
   Even my very good friends Shriprada, janani and kirthika also keeps Golu every year elaborately. But the didn't have any picture to fit in my site.
Check out my Collection of  Navaratri Recipes  which i posted last year.
Scroll down till the end of the post to see many more alternate options too.
Follow Jeyashri's kitchen on facebook and Instagram to get updates.

RAJMA SUNDAL RECIPE | NAVARATRI SUNDAL RECIPES

Rajma|Red kidney bean sundal, is an easy variety of sundal to make for navaratri. I usually make Rajma masala , but rajma sundal i am trying for the first time. I tried slightly mint flavored rajma sundal just to enhance the taste. And believe me, it came out very well and the slight flavor of mint leaves and rajma paired very well. Try out this rajma sundal for  Navratri 2014. It is also a healthy snack for kids too. Check out my Navaratri recipes

ARISI VADAI RECIPE | VADAI RECIPES | NO ONION NO GARLIC RECIPES

Arisi vadai is a very easy vadai recipe, which was introduced by my friend when i visited her house for the first time on a navaratri day. She served this vadai with getti chutney (thick coconut chutney). After that i never tried it athome but tasted it at her house so many times. She will always send for me whenever she makes this arisi vadai. Some recipes have strong memories associated with that right!.This vadai is a perfect and easy evening snack too. This recipe was featured in the supplement i compiled for Kungumam thozi . Arisi vadai is a perfect one to make for guests on a vrat day as it has no onion and no garlic too.

    Though the name is arisi vadai it looks like a kunukku only.

MASALE BHAAT RECIPE | TINDORA RICE | NO ONION NO GARLIC RECIPES

    Masale bhaath is a maharastrian dish, introduced to me by my very good friend. It is a variety of rice made with tindora | kovakkai and it is a no onion no garlic recipe too. One day she passed on this rice to me and it tasted so well and noted down the recipe from her. This recipe was published in supplement of Kungumam Thozi which featured 30 recipes of mine . Sharing today the recipe of Tindora rice | maharastrian masale bhaat. A simple one pot meal and a perfect lunch box recipe too.

THINAI PESARATTU RECIPE | FOXTAIL MILLET PESARATTU | EASY BREAKFAST RECIPES

Thinai|tenai was first introduced to me by my mom during our India trip in June. She made delicious thinai payasam for us and she told me to try it out too. My sister also gifted me with a cookbook containing millet recipes. Actually 2 years back my younger co sister gave me some organic millet and asked to try out some dishes with that. But i didn't even touch that . Right from the day she got married, she has been telling all of us to include millet into our food by replacing rice. But after reading so many healthy benefits of the variety of millet, i started loving the millet and slowly introducing in our diet. My mom sent some Thinai arisi ( also called as Kangni in Hindi, Korra in Telugu, Navanne in Kannada and Thina in malayalam)through my friend in very small quantities.  So far i have tried out few recipes using different types of millet.
  So posting my first millet recipe with Thinai - Foxtail millet. Will posting a recipe with different types of millet once a week.
  Thinai or Foxtail millet has lot of health benefits. It has a very good source of protein and iron. This millet can be easily digested and  controls blood sugar too. I came to know about these information in that book which my sister gave to me.
  Here in Singapore we get Millets in Abdul Rahim store in Little India and Thinai is found in Mustafa center too.

CURRY LEAVES IDIYAPPAM | KARUVEPILLAI SEVAI | SOUTH INDIAN TIFFIN RECIPES

 No onion no garlic recipes

Sevai | idiyappam is a rare thing in my kitchen as kids are not a big fan of these. My amma makes a lot of variety in sevai and she always makes the idiyappam from scratch. Last month when i invited my friends and neighbours for Varalakshmi pooja evening, i made this sevai . It was a huge gathering with almost 50 plus people and so i opted for the instant rice sevai only. I used concord and double horse brand also works out best. It was actually an instant idea and without much thinking i made this and it was a super hit among the guests.

CORN AND PALAK PAKODA RECIPE| NO ONION NO GARLIC RECIPES

Palak and corn is a winning combo and i recently explored this recently when i gave 30 recipes for the magazine Kungumam thozi. It is a no onion no garlic recipe and you can try this on navaratri days too and on other fasting days too. Check out my no onion no garlic Cabbage pakoda. Without much write up let me share the recipe of palak corn pakoda | corn  palak pakodi | palak corn fritters.

CARROT DAL FRY RECIPE | SIDE DISH FOR ROTI|CHAPATI

Dal is a very staple food at our house and all of us love to have dal with plain rice or roti too. Especially kids will eat dal without any complaints. When i shared 30 recipes for Aval vikatan magazine, i gave this recipe of carrot dal too. In the normal dal ,which we make i added carrots and used masoor dal in the place of normal dal. While making this post again for blog, i don’t have masoor dal at home , so replaced with yellow moong dal. Check out my masoor dal tadka. 

DOSA BATTER RECIPE | HOW TO MAKE CRISPY DOSA |SOUTH INDIAN BREAKFAST RECIPES |INDIAN KITCHEN BASICS

Dosai or Dosa is widely popular as a staple South Indian breakfast or snack. It can
also be had at times for dinner. Dosas are basically thin, crispy crepes made of rice and
lentils. It can be accompanied with varieties of chutney or sambar. We also make it a
point to always have it with molaga podi (a spicy powder made using roasted lentils
and dry chilles and mixed with generous amounts of sesame oil). Some like soft, thick
dosas while most love it to be restaurant style crispy. My dosais became a hit
amongst my friends when I recently made them for her kids and there was a demand
from them for dosai batter recipe. This recipe gives detailed instructions on making the
dosa batter in a mixer/grinder and tips on getting fail proof mouthwatering crispy
dosas every time. You can also try making delicious dosais with Idli batter after slightly
diluting the batter. There are a many options for side dish for dosa to make it even
more interesting.
Scroll down till the end of the post to see the tips i have given to make a perfect dosa batter. 

JEERA ALOO RECIPE| ALOO JEERA DRY | NO ONION NO GARLIC RECIPES

Aloo jeera | Jeera is an easy and simple recipe with potatoes. It can be had with roti and rice too. Even it tastes great with south indian sambar too. This recipe was passed on to me by a punjabi friend of mine. Few more punjabi recipes too she shared ,which i will try soon and post here.  We had with dal tadka and plain rice.